Billy V

TONS more consistent. They worked out an algorithm that smoothed out the display a lot. Additionally, the display size is a lot larger on the DR than it on on the FH. If you were losing probes, my guess would be that there was some issue with your crimps and the thimble. This new method works very very well and I haven't lost a probe due to it. The coating definitely can be scraped off if you cross riggers, but liquid electrical tape will cover most small nicks. The way I look at it is this: The coated cable does require some care & attention, but its the price you have to pay to get a probe that is dead-nuts reliable.

Walker is now making that set-up Tim. And they've also come out with a terminator that has a Black's style release on it (we started using this last year and liked it a lot).

I've owned a Fish Hawk and I replaced it very quickly with a Depth Raider. The major advantages of the DR over the FH are that a single 9v battery will last you an entire year on the DR, not a single trip like on the FH. The FH operates much like a sonar unit and requires that you mount a transducer to the back of your boat, whereas the DR, Moor, and the Cannon all use a coated cable to transmit the signal. The coated cable will work a whole lot deeper than the FH ever will. I have run my DR down 150'+ and not lost signal. Try doing that with your Fish Hawk. Like YT says, just run a 15# Shark and there won't be much blow back.

Scott, Did you get the Fishing Chip with that too? I've been told that if you buy the new Gold that they'll send you a free fishing chip that has contour lines but most of the navigation stuff isn't there. We fish out of the same port all the time, so the navigation stuff isn't as important to me as all of the contour lines are. Thanks for your input on this, it really helps.

I completely missed that at the Triple S show YT. Where was it? Would've liked to have seen it just to see what they've done to it. I agree, the Depth Raider is the way to go!

The best news is that Shark has severed their ties with Sea Pearls, who was making the Sharks for them lat year. This year they're going back to making them in Canada by hand again and the resulting quality will be much higher.

I agree 100% with Hank. Depth Raider all the way.

Hey guys, I just got an email from Shark announcing their new online store. You'll be able to buy directly from Shark now! They're taking orders as I write this, so be sure to get your order in early so you don't miss out! http://www.sharkcannonballs.com/superstore.html I already have my order in!

Sorry to hear that SW. That really sucks. My condolences.

I actually wear this exact boot by Redhead: Not slippery on the deck, and no black marks that I remember.

On my old 24' Penn Yan we had a set of home made planer reels that we mounted to the bow rail. We ran 'em that way for years. Only problem with it was when we ran our boards waaaaayyyy out to the side the tow line would drag and the releases didn't like to slide down it. We solved the line problem by running 250# Power pro (it's a lot more slippery than standard tow line), and we never really had a need to run the boards out so far that the lines would rag. My Dad welded up a short little boom to mount the pulleys on to raise them up in the air a little bit more. Worked great. You can sort of see them in these pictures. If you can get 'em higher up in the air you'll be happier, but it'll work if you have to mount them to the rail. You know, I really do miss that boat!

Only issue I saw with the Gold was that it stopped showing contour lines after about 30 FOW. Does yours show contour lines every 3' or so over the entire lake? If so, you have a different version than the one I saw a month or so ago and I'd like to know which one it is!

When it's warm I wear a pair of these...best traction on a wet deck that I've ever had in a pair of boat shoes. Very stable too, unlike the flip flops I used to wear.

Thanks for passing on that info Erin. Why they offer so many different maps and their site gives very little detail about each is beyond me. I'm more confused now than I ever was. Originally I was going to go with the Navionics Gold and get the free Fishin Chip, then I was set to get the Hotmaps Premium, but the more I thought about it, I really would like to have the Western basin on a chip. So now I need to look into these options. All I want is ONE map that shows all of the depth contours and navigation aids of Lake Ontario. If there's anyone affiliated with Navionics out there, maybe thay could chime in here???? I sure would like to see each of these maps in action before I dropped $200.

The original question was what to wear during COLD weather, which to me means those snotty 30 degree days in April. Ain't no way I'm wearing Crocs, Flip flops, or Tevas on cold days. I'd prefer to go with something like this:

Yeah, he'd fit right in with all the tree huggers & earth muffins down here in Ithaca with his Crocs! YT I think you need to start spending some time down on the Commons! LMFAO!!!!

Here you go: Part # 585-RAM-MNT

Actually, you can hang it from the hardtop. I have mine that way. You need to get the RAM mount accessory from Furuno. Costs about $50 extra to get it. The Furuno website seems to be down at the moment, but when it comes back up I'll post the part number for you.

I learned something new today...gonna give that a try sometime. Wonder if uploading them here will allow me to post them on other boards and on my blog, which I regularly do?

Put 'em up on Photobcket, then copy/paste the URL in between

I saw that Superglow Wonderbread yesterday and the Triple S show and pics don't do it justice. Heck, all of the new Spinnys look amazing. What a great time to be a Great Lakes Angler!

Make sure that the Heartland rod that you get is the Dipsy rod. We run them in 9'6" and 10' for our dipsys and love them. They're plenty stiff enough. No need for a twilly tip until you wear out the top guide on the rod. I've gotten two seasons out of my top guides on all of my Heartland wire dipsy rods before I needed to replace it with a twilly. The SG47LCA is a great reel for that application, but we also run the ADP47LC's (the NEW Accudepth PLUS, not the old ones) on our wire rigs and have had very good luck with them. I wouldn't hesitate to run them and save some $$ to put into other things, especially if you're only going to be running them a few times each season. E-chips are great, and we also like the 8" Spin Dr. a lot. White, Green, Chartreuse, and Dalmatian are all great choices. I also like some of the new colors they're coming out with for next year. Do a search here and find the knot for tying your wire to your swivel. There's no need for crimps...the knot is ridiculously simple and absolutely works without fail. Basically you half hitch the wire to the swivel and tie an overhand knot with the tag end on the main line. There should be pics of it floating around on the site somewhere. We use regular sized dipsys and achieve depths of up to 120' without much problem. The Mag will get down to those depths too, but with less line out. Downside to the Mag is the extra drag it produces. You're definitely on the right track. Hope this helps.

Erin, I don't know if they added the western basin for 2008 or not, but I'm going to check into it. Navionics was recently bought by Johnson Outdoors and I have lots of connections there so I'll ask. Why they can't make one chip for the entire lake is beyond me too. I don't know anything about the Garmin charts so I can't be of any assistance there. But I have heard good things about them. I just wonder if they have the detail that the hotmaps does.

Welcome to the site Misty! 'Bout time you registered!!

Erin, I've done a ton of research on this since I'm upgrading just the same as you are. From what I've seen, I think that the Navionics Hot Maps Premium East '08 offers the best detail out there (unless you spring for the Platinum version, but most plotters won't run that). It has 3' depth contours of the lake and all of the navigation aids. I've found them for about $139 Navionics also makes the Gold series, which is what most of the electronics salesmen have told me that I need. But when I looked at it, it is much more of a navigation chip and only has depth contours out to 30 FOW or so. Plus it's $50+ more than the Hot Maps Premium. I liked the Hotmaps much better for fishing. If you decide to go with a Lowrance plotter, they offer the Nauticpath chip for those for something like $75. I'd rank that chip last behind the Navionics Hotmaps and the Gold. It has depths marked all over the lake just like the Gold, but again, it only has depth contours out to 30FOW or so. It would definitely do the job, but I like what I saw from the Hotmaps Premium a lot better. You can check the Navionics site for details on all of the chips that they sell. http://www.navionics.com/Default.asp Here's the main differences: >What is the difference between HotMaps and the Classic/Gold Charts? Navionics HotMaps are electronic freshwater lake maps for your GPS; Navionics Classic, Gold and Platinum Charts are saltwater marine charts for coastal areas, plus the Great Lakes. For 2008, HotMaps lake maps are available in both Premium and Platinum editions on both SD (SecureDigital) and CF (CompactFlash) media cards. The Premium edition offers thousands of lakes in 5 regions, plus hundreds of high-definition lakes from Navionics own on-the-water surveys. HotMaps Platinum edition also offers thousands of lakes but in 15 regions, plus hundreds of high-definition lake maps with 3D bottom view, top-down photo overlay and more. Special order HotMaps are also available for GPS models not compatible with either HotMaps Premium or HotMaps Platinum editions. Navionics Classic, Silver, Gold, Gold+, Platinum and Platinum+ Charts are based on official government charts and provide detailed coastal and Great Lakes navigation and fishing information. Each provides a unique set of features and benefits designed to suit a wide-variety of boaters and fishing enthusiasts. For 2008, Classic Charts are available in (L) large-size regions to support an array of earlier model GPS chartplotters; Gold/Gold+ Charts are available in XL9-size regions; and Platinum/Platinum+ Charts are available in XL3-size regions. Some special order marine charts and media card types are available for GPS models not compatible with the products mentioned above. Hope this helps.